PADRES REUNITE SAN DIEGO GONZALEZ BROTHERS

It happened right here in Chicago at Wrigley Field, the San Diego Padres called up 29 year old Edgar Gonzalez. This all happened over the Mother’s Day weekend, Adrian Gonzalez’ older brother was called up to join the Padres. Edgar was hitting .293 with 4 homers in 82 at bats this year in Triple-A when the call came. Both brothers are extremely happy as you can tell in this story you can read here.

Both brothers played at Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, CA and both are now with their hometown San Diego Padres, but in between their careers were TOTALLY different! Both were drafted in the 2000 Amateur Draft, Adrian by the Florida Marlins with the first pick in the draft, while older brother Edgar was taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 30th round (886th player chosen).

How did these guys drafted by Sunshine State teams make it across the country to San Diego?

Adrian was traded in 2003 by the Fish to the Texas Rangers in exchange for reliever Uegeth Urbina. As luck would have it Texas had a pretty good firstbaseman at the time, in Mark Teixeira. So the Rangers sent him packing along with pitcher Chris Young and outfielder Termel Sledge in exchange for pitcher Adam Eaton and reliever Akinori Otsuka in 2006. It didn’t take the Rangers long to see the error of their ways as Young moved into San Diego’s rotation and Adrian developed into a superstar, while both Eaton & Otsuka developed arm problems. In three years with the Padres Gonzalez has posted the following numbers; 2006: 38 2B’s, 24 HR’s, 82 RBI’s, .304, 2007: 46 2B’s, 30 HR’s, 100 RBI’s, .282, and only 52 games played thus far in 2008: 13 2B’s, 14 HR’s, 43 RBI’s, .282.

The Texas Rangers selected brother Edgar from the Devil Rays in 2003 in the Rule V Minor League Draft. Then he was again selected in the Rule V Minor League Draft in 2004 only this time by the Montreal Expos. Then in November, 2007 he signed a Minor League contract with the San Diego Padres. Edgar is not the hitter, nor the prospect, that his younger brother Adrian is. Still he was one of the last cuts in spring training. The elder Gonzalez has nearly a .300 batting average in his nine years in the minors. Edgar, here’s to a long stay in the big leagues!

Brothers, reunited, playing in the majors for their hometown team, what every boy dreams about!

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